India's [ Images ] challenge ended in the ITF men's Future tennis tournament when wild card Harsh Mankad lost to Bulgaria's Todov Enev 6-4, 2-6, 5-7 in the semi-finals at the Oudh Gymkhana courts in Lucknow [ Images ] on Friday.

The Indian Davis Cupper won the first set 6-4 but succumbed to his nerves in the next two.

The Bulgarian will meet third seed Santoshi Iwabuchi of Japan [ Images ] in the final.

Iwabuchi had little difficulty in beating Orest Tereshchu of Ukraine 7-6(7/5), 6-0 in the other semi-final.

After conceding the second set 2-6, Mankad showed some resistance in the decider, but remarkable control on his returns and serves saw Enev force the Indian into commiting unforced errors. Mankad lost the set 5-7.

Mankad was the sole Indian interest remaining in this tournament after higher-ranked Mustafa Ghouse, Manoj Mahadevan and Rishi Sridhar made their exits in the pre-quarter-final stage.

In the doubles, the pair of Iwabuchi and Kim got a walkover and will face Handoyo and Suwand, who beat Enev/Moreno 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the semi-finals.